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Selected Works of Peter B. Adler
Article
Nitrogen Increases Early-Stage and Slows Late-Stage Decomposition Across Diverse Grasslands
Journal of Ecology
  • Allison L. Gill, Williams College
  • Peter B. Adler, Utah State University
  • Elizabeth T. Borer, University of Minnesota
  • Christopher R. Buyarski, University of Minnesota
  • Elsa E. Cleland, University of California San Diego
  • Carla M. D'Antonio, University of California Santa Barbara
  • Kendi F. Davies, University of Colorado
  • Daniel S. Gruner, University of Maryland
  • W. Stanley Harpole, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
  • Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Andrew S. MacDougall, University of Guelph
  • Rebecca L. McCulley, University of Kentucky
  • Brett A. Melbourne, University of Colorado
  • Joslin L. Moore, Monash University
  • John W. Morgan, La Trobe University
  • Anita C. Risch, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research
  • Martin Schütz, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research
  • Eric W. Seabloom, University of Minnesota
  • Justin P. Wright, Duke University
  • Louie H. Yang, University of California Davis
  • Sarah E. Hobbie, University of California Davis
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Document Type
Article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Publication Date
3-25-2022
Disciplines
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Abstract

  1. To evaluate how increased anthropogenic nutrient inputs alter carbon cycling in grasslands, we conducted a litter decomposition study across 20 temperate grasslands on three continents within the Nutrient Network, a globally distributed nutrient enrichment experiment
  2. We determined the effects of addition of experimental nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium plus micronutrient (Kμ) on decomposition of a common tree leaf litter in a long-term study (maximum of 7 years; exact deployment period varied across sites). The use of higher order decomposition models allowed us to distinguish between the effects of nutrients on early- versus late-stage decomposition.
  3. Across continents, the addition of N (but not other nutrients) accelerated early-stage decomposition and slowed late-stage decomposition, increasing the slowly decomposing fraction by 28% and the overall litter mean residence time by 58%.
  4. Synthesis. Using a novel, long-term cross-site experiment, we found widespread evidence that N enhances the early stages of above-ground plant litter decomposition across diverse and widespread temperate grassland sites but slows late-stage decomposition. These findings were corroborated by fitting the data to multiple decomposition models and have implications for N effects on soil organic matter formation. For example, following N enrichment, increased microbial processing of litter substrates early in decomposition could promote the production and transfer of low molecular weight compounds to soils and potentially enhance the stabilization of mineral-associated organic matter. By contrast, by slowing late-stage decomposition, N enrichment could promote particulate organic matter (POM) accumulation. Such hypotheses deserve further testing.

Author ORCID Identifier

Peter B. Adler: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4216-4009

Elizabeth T. Borer: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2259-5853

Christopher R. Buyarski: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7080-8978

Elsa E. Cleland: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3920-0029

Carla M. D'Antonio: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0395-9650

Kendi F. Davies: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7716-3359

Daniel S. Gruner: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3153-4297

W. Stanley Harpole: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3404-9174

Kirsten S. Hofmockel: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1586-2167

Andrew S. MacDougall: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1869-7868

Rebecca L. McCulley: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2393-0599

Brett A. Melbourne: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8843-4131

Joslin L. Moore: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9809-5092

Anita C. Risch: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0531-8336

Eric W. Seabloom: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6780-9259

Justin P. Wright: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9102-5347

Louie H. Yang: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9237-5357

Sarah E. Hobbie: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5159-031X

Citation Information
Gill, A. L., Adler, P. B., Borer, E. T., Buyarski, C. R., Cleland, E. E., D’Antonio, C. M., Davies, K. F., Gruner, D. S., Harpole, W. S., Hofmockel, K. S., MacDougall, A. S., McCulley, R. L., Melbourne, B. A., Moore, J. L., Morgan, J. W., Risch, A. C., Schütz, M., Seabloom, E. W., Wright, J. P. … Hobbie, S. E. (2022). Nitrogen increases early-stage and slows late-stage decomposition across diverse grasslands. Journal of Ecology, 110, 1376–1389. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13878